


Can't Sleep Without You

by lalahss



Category: High School Story (Visual Novel)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Kissing, M/M, Pining, nighttime shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:27:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23609137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalahss/pseuds/lalahss
Summary: It's 2:42am, and Nishan can't sleep. Julian's at baseball camp, and he's lonely. Luckily, with a knock at his window, things suddenly get much better...
Relationships: Nishan Khandaar/Julian Castillo
Kudos: 7





	Can't Sleep Without You

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! I miss High School Story so much :( so here's a fic so I don't miss it quite as much!!!
> 
> Who else shipped Nishlian with the original HSS game? I didn't really (big Autumn/Julian shipper here!) but lately I've thought Nish and Julian have such a good dynamic, and they'd make a great couple... Sigh, I miss this game!

Nishan missed his boyfriend a lot. Ordinarily, he’d be fine with the fact that Julian was at baseball camp, but he didn’t realise that even spending one night without Julian on the other end of the phone wishing him good night would tear him apart so much. Curse the Woodland Campground for having no cell connection!

His rocket ship clock said it was 2:42am, but Nishan felt as if it was much, much later… Why else was he feeling so bad? Rolling around on his bed didn’t provide any comfort, nor did refreshing his blankets, changing his pyjamas, or getting yet another glass of milk. He figured if he couldn’t sleep, he could start on his calculus homework, but the thought of doing anything filled him with angst. What was the point, if Julian wasn’t there?

He thought back to when Julian had asked him out, right back during homecoming. He’d run off the field suddenly, and when he returned with a big bouquet of flowers, Mia Warren was already primping and preening off to the side with the cheer squad. Nishan was expecting the worst, that Julian would ask her to homecoming in a grand gesture, but he wasn’t expecting it when Payton suddenly appeared in the stands, telling him to go down to the field, and he _definitely_ wasn’t expecting it when Julian got down on one knee, and asked him if he wanted to go to homecoming with him. He was so unprepared that he ended up crying, and Julian had given him the warmest, kindest hug he’d ever received in his life, which made the shock and shame of it all so much better.

Since then, they’d been inseparable. Winter came and went, with many dates and hangouts with friends, but the one constant was Julian’s voice over the phone each night. It’d started off as him trying to comfort Nishan that first night at the homecoming party at Payton’s, but then he called the next night to make sure Nishan recovered from the party alright. The next night, to tell Nishan he loved how cute he looked when he was sleeping on Payton’s bed, the one after, to share a funny meme he’d found, until it became a nightly routine. At 10pm, Julian would call, and Nishan would feel comforted by the kind tones of his boyfriend as they chatted about nonsensical things.

Until tonight. The silence was deafening. His parents had long since gone to bed, so the only person awake in the house was him. Sakura had logged off Discord, Payton was offline from Facebook, and Autumn had posted her good-night Snapchat streaks. It was only him.

He checked the clock. 2:43am. Why, oh why? He was about to crawl out of bed and get another glass of milk, but he heard a strange noise by the wall. Nishan, naturally skittish, quickly covered himself in his blanket, and hoped the noise would subside. A crunch. Nishan chalked it up to an excitable squirrel, and shut his eyes. A knock on his window. Wait.

Nishan sat upright in bed, realising it was absolutely the worst thing to do if a serial killer was at your window, only to see a familiar shape at his window. Julian?!

He leaped out of bed, and raced over to the window, his heart beating out of his chest. What was Julian doing here? He opened the window, and stepped back as Julian got in, just barely fitting through the frame.

“Juli–” Julian put a finger over his lips, and Nishan hushed immediately. He pulled out his phone, and started typing on it, as Nishan frowned. What was his very lovely, and stupid, boyfriend doing?

He passed him his phone, and Nishan realised he had his Notes app up. “Hey Nishy Baby! I snuck out from camp bc I missed you <3”

Nishan grinned as he read it, and leaned in to whisper to Julian, “We can whisper, my parents are asleep.”

Julian grinned back in the light coming from Nishan’s window, and whispered back to him, “Great! Why are you still awake?”

“I missed you too.” Nishan frowned, and Julian quickly hugged him. “Thanks babe.”

“No worries, Nish-Nish!” He squeezed him, and Nishan laughed, Julian putting a hand over his mouth as Nishan remembered he needed to be quiet. “You’re so cute…”

“Do you want to do something, or snuggle?” Nishan asked him, wondering what they should do. Every teen movie ever suggested they should start making out, but… it was 2:43am. He looked over at his clock, and saw it was 2:45. Time was passing, and if he could sleep, he really wanted to.

“Wanna watch a movie? We can snuggle while watching it!” Nishan could feel Julian getting excited, and he chuckled softly to himself.

“Got anything you want to watch?” Nishan grabbed his laptop, and pulled up a totally-legal movie website as he sat back down on his bed. Julian quickly pulled off his shoes, and plopped down next to Nish, putting his arm around him.

“Bring It On?” Julian whispered, and Nishan tried not to laugh. Julian _loved_ chick flicks, and Nishan never understood why. They were waffly and silly, but Julian found the drama irresistible.

“Yeah, we can watch Bring It On.” Nishan pulled up the movie, and snuggled into Julian. “Want a blanket?”

“Sure,” Julian replied, “but you’re really warm already.”

Nishan felt a blush go up his cheeks. “Shut up, you big doofus.”

Julian laughed quietly, and Nishan quickly got up while the movie buffered to grab some blankets from his cupboard. He looked behind him after he’d grabbed them, and smiled as he saw Julian sitting on his bed, smiling in the glow of his laptop. He looked up at Nishan, and Nishan quickly averted his eyes. Julian is so beautiful, Nishan thought to himself, and he’s in my room at 2:40something in the morning. Strange times. Nishan could feel his body relaxing at his presence, and it was nice, feeling long-awaited sleepiness overcome his mind. Wait. No. They still had to watch Bring It On!

He sat back down next to Julian, and Julian gave him a warm look. “You’re so cute when you’re sleepy,” he said softly.

“I’m not sleepy,” Nishan replied, stifling a yawn. “Uh…” He looked at his pillow, and back at Julian. “Mind if we lie down?”

“I don’t mind.” Julian lay himself down next to the wall, before realising that he’d put Nishan out. “Uhh… slip in next to me?”

“Yeah, okay.” He nodded, slipping into the small space Julian left between himself and the wall, and immediately felt warmth as Julian wrapped his arm around him. “I don’t even want to watch the movie right now with you here.”

Julian laughed gently, colouring Nishan’s cheeks further, and he pulled up the blankets as Nishan got his laptop on top of them. “Do you have headphones?”

Nishan groped around on his desk behind his bed, until he felt his earbuds, pulling them towards him. “Got them.” He plugged them into his computer, and gave Julian an earbud, putting the other into his ear. He hit play, and as the film began, rested his head on Julian’s shoulder.

This shouldn’t have felt any different to the other times when he and Julian had stayed up watching movies, but there were a few key differences. Firstly, they weren’t on Julian’s couch, or in the guest room at Nishan’s (where his parents wanted them to be to keep tabs on them), and secondly, he hadn’t longed for the sound of Julian’s voice on any of their dates. That longing had made him want to melt into Julian’s touch, and hear his voice for hours and hours.

“You can talk,” he said, hoping that Julian would take the hint. Julian looked at him, and gave him a soft smile.

“I’m sorry I didn’t call you.” He put his arm around Nishan, and Nishan snuggled into Julian’s chest. Why was it so warm? Movie forgotten, he put his arm on his chest, and Julian sighed.

“I missed you so much…” Nishan looked up at Julian, who was not watching the cheer action unfolding on screen.

“I missed you too. Believe it or not, I love hearing about your calc homework, and missing that was physically painful for me today.” Julian’s mouth quirked upwards, and he added, “I missed your sleepy voice too. You sound so cute when you’re about to fall asleep on the line.”

“Heh… thanks Julian.” Nishan looked up at his wonderfully silly boyfriend, and Julian looked back down at him lovingly, stroking his fluffy mohawk. “I feel maybe a liiiittle bit sleepy, but it’s fine! I can stay awake.”

“I know you can.” Julian gave him an adoring look, and smiled. “You can shut your eyes if you want to.”

“I don’t want to stop looking at you.”

Julian’s smile was replaced with a spark in his eye, and Nishan felt his heart warm. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” As Julian turned his attention back to the movie, Nishan let himself shut his eyes for a second, and focus on the feeling of Julian’s breathing. In, out. In, out. He timed his breaths with his boyfriend’s, until he felt his body gently slipping into sleep. “I love you a lot…”

“You’re adorable, Nish-cakes.”

“Bouddasleep,” he murmured as he drifted off, Julian’s hands gently massaging his hair.

“I love you a lot too,” was the last thing he heard before he fell into a deep sleep of vivid dreams.

* * *

Nishan awoke, feeling a hard surface beneath him, and the sun on his face. He squinted in the light, until his eyes adjusted, and he looked at the window. Open? Goodness. He looked over at his clock— 8:27am. Early for a Saturday. He rolled over on his hard bed, only to realise that the hardness below him was the rock-hard abs of his boyfriend.

Wait.

“Julian? Jules? Wake up!” Nishan gently hissed in his ear, and Julian grunted in response. “You’re supposed to be at camp, wake up!”

“Aagh? Nishy?” Julian squinted, and then jumped. “Oh no, I fell asleep, oh no, oh no…”

Nishan sat up, and saw his laptop on the floor next to Julian. “It’s okay, I fell asleep too… but oh no, you need to get back!”

“I’ll just say I had an emergency back home.” Julian sat up next to Nishan, and smiled as he saw Nishan’s fuzzy mohawk. “You look so cute when you’ve just woken up.”

“I just woke up,” Nishan protested weakly, “and we need to get you out of here.”

“Yes sir!” Julian mock-saluted, and Nishan grinned. Even with the threat of extra laps, Julian was so sweet in the morning… “I’ll just jump out the window again.”

“If you say so.” Nishan rolled over the top of Julian, and picked up his laptop, putting it back on his desk. Julian swung his feet over the edge of the bed, and smiled at Nishan. “Penny for your thoughts?”

“You looked so cute last night.” He gave Nishan a goofy smile, and Nishan felt his heart pang. “I only fell asleep because your breaths calmed me down, and I honestly don’t want to fall asleep any other way.”

“Do you want to come back here tomorrow night?” Nishan asked, moving over to open the window.

“I’m so tempted, you have no idea.” Julian stood up, stretched out his arms, and came over to Nishan, a smile working its way onto his face. “But you know what I do want to do right now?”

“What’s that?” Nishan asked, his lips quirking upwards.

“Kiss you.” He leaned into Nishan, and Nishan quickly pulled him closer as their lips met. Julian rested his hands on Nishan’s back as their lips stayed together, until they parted, forming a rhythm as Julian ran his fingers through Nishan’s hair. Nishan could feel his head starting to go lightheaded, and he pulled away as Julian started to trace the edge of his jaw.

“You’re too good at that,” Nishan said breathlessly, “and it’s not fair.”

“You make it easy, Nish-Nish.” He planted a kiss on Nishan’s forehead, and prepared to go out the window. “How’d I get in last night?”

“Promise you’ll at least call,” Nishan said pleadingly, as Julian fit himself through the window with difficulty.

“Of course. I’ll sneak out and do it if I have to.” Finally through the window, he blew a kiss to Nishan. “Love you babe.”

“Love you too, you big dork.” Nishan smiled, and Julian grinned back. “Talk to you tonight?”

“Talk to you tonight.” And with that, Julian darted off to get back to camp, even though he was definitely too late. Nishan shut the window, and felt his heart leap. Julian! He was the best boyfriend ever, in his opinion, and nobody could compare at all. Oh, Julian…

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed, please leave kudos! My Twitter is @holstsmuse, so if you want to hear me talk about Fire Emblem and fun Choices things on occasion, come on over!


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